The Impact of Lecturers Truant Attitude and Students Academic Performance in Bayelsa Tertiary Institutions

Abstract

Issues of lecturers not being at their duty posts and abusing students in one way or the other have fueled concerns among the populace on the integrity of the educational system in Nigeria. The study looked at the impact of lecturer’s truant attitude and students’ academic performance in Bayelsa State. The study employed the descriptive survey research design. The study used a population of 2873 lecturers in tertiary institutions in Bayelsa State. The sample size is 483 respondents. Multi stage sampling procedure was adopted for the study. The study developed a questionnaire titled “Impact of Lecturers Truant Attitudes and Students Academic Performance” (ILTASAP). The instrument was validated by three experts from the Federal University, Otuoke. Split half method was used to determine the reliability of the instrument and Cronbach alpha was used to determine the reliability, which gave a value of 0.79. Mean and standard deviation was used to answer the research questions and t-test to test the null hypotheses. Findings showed that truant behaviours among lecturers were skipping classes, rudeness towards students, favouritism and overload of students with workload which they ought to have done. The study found a negative but not significant influence of lecturers’ attitudes on students’ academic performance. It was recommended that the school authorities should devise effective ways of dealing with truancy among members of staff.